Bangladeshi woman gangrape case: Seven accused awarded life sentence by Special court

Pramesh S Jain & Dr B Thomas (Special correspondent)

A special court in Bengaluru has convicted 9 Bangladesh nationals for life time imprisonment in a horrific sexual assault case that took place in May last year. The sexual assault case had made national headlines after the video of assault had went viral.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju also tweeted urging the public to help police to nab the accused.

On 18th May 2021,an unfortunate incident of gang rape of a Bangladeshi woman was reported from Kanaka Nagar,Ramamurthy Nagar Police Station Limits,Bengaluru City.

The incident drew a lot of public attention both for the heinous nature and brazenness of the accused in not only committing the horrific crime but also recording the same on a smartphone
and making the video viral.

A case was registered in Ramamurthy Nagar Police Station under Crime number 175/2021 Under Sections 120(B), 201, 204, 323, 324, 343, 366(B), 370(A),376(D), 376, 384, 504, 506 of IPC, Section 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act,Sec 67(A) IT Act and Section 14 of Foreigners Act.

A blind case to begin with,the Bengaluru City police sprung to action and special teams constituted by the Commissioner of Police detected the case within three days,arresting 12 accused in total, of whom 11 accused were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and one local.

To deliver speedy justice,the investigation was taken up on war footing, using all scientific aids at disposal such as DNA Analysis,electronic evidence,mobile forensics,finger print evidence, voice sampling etc,the case was charge sheeted in a record time of 28 days.

The Government of Karnataka appointed Special Public Prosecutor Shri.Veeranna Tigadi to conduct the prosecution and a special trial monitoring team headed by an ACP rank officer was constituted by the Commissioner of Police,Bengaluru City to assist and monitor
the trial process,ensuring no delays are caused.

A total of 44 witnesses were examined by the
Learned Judge and the trial was completed in a record time of less than three months.

On conclusion of the trial on the 20th of May 2022,the Special Court CCH 54,pronounced its judgement convicting all the accused as follows.

Accused no.A-1 to A5,A-7 and A-8.,Chand Miya @ Sobuj,Mohammed Rifakdul Islam@Hridoy Babu, Mohammed Alamin Hossien@Rafsanmandal, Rakibul Islam @ Sagar,Mohammed Babu Sheik,Mohammed Dalim and Azim Hossain to Rigorous Imprisonment for Life.

A-6 Taniya Khan sentenced to 20 years imprisonment,A-9 Mohammed Jamal sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and A-10 acquitted as an approver in the case.

A-11 and A-12 are convicted for offences under Foreigners Act for 9 months simple imprisonment.

The extraordinary efforts of the Investigation team along with the Trial monitoring team and the Special Public Prosecutor Shri. Veeranna Tigadi are greatly appreciated in ensuring a sense of closure and speedy justice to the unfortunate victim.

Senior officer told reporters to deliver speedy justice, the investigation was taken up on war footing, using all scientific aids at disposal such as DNA Analysis, electronic evidence, mobile forensics,finger print evidence, voice sampling etc., the case was charge sheeted in a record time of 28 days.”

With the case being cracked, police also busted a multi-city prostitution ring run by Bangladeshi nationals in the country.

Bengaluru gangrape case

In a brutal incident,the young woman was tortured and raped by five men and one woman in the city’s Ramamurthynagar.

One of the accused had allegedly shot the video of their act and uploaded it on social media handles which in return prompted the Assam Police to publish their pictures online.

The Assam Police also assured that anyone providing information regarding the individuals will be rewarded.Hours later,the Bengaluru Police arrested all the accused.

Even the NIA filed a charge sheet before a Special Court in Bengaluru against 13 Bangladeshi nationals for their involvement in trafficking women and children from the neighbouring country after illegally crossing over to India, an official said.

Rafik,Sobuj Shaik,Mohammed Rafikdul Islam Ridoy,Rakibul Islam,Mohammed Babu Molla, Mohammed Alami Hossen,Mohammed Dalim, Hossain Azim,Mohammed Jamal,Enamul Haque Shuzan,Mohammed Ruhul Amin,Riday Islam and Mohammed Milon Biswas,all Bangladeshi nationals under sections 120B r/w 370, 120B r/w 370A (2), 343, 465, 468, 471 of IPC, sections 14A (b) and 14C of the Foreigners Act, 1946 sections 3, 4, 5 & 6 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

Finally Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai,Home Minister of Karnataka,Araga Jnanendra,has appreciated,Karnataka,DG&IGP,Praveen Sood,the then Commissioner of police,Kamal Pant,present commissioner,C H Pratap Reddy,then Addl CP East,S Murugan,present,A subramanyeshwara Rao,The then DCP East,Dr.SD Sharanappa,Present,DCP East,Dr Bheemashankar S Guled,ACPs,as,Ningappa B Sakkri,Manoj,PI,Melvin Joseph,PSI,Shivaraj,Arvind,crime staff as, Devendra Nayak and other crime staff has been appreciated for their excellent and timely investigation in submitting chargesheet and producing technical and other evidence in the case and witnesses helped to deliver a speedy justice to vicitm who was brutally raped and her video was been viral for the excellent work done by the team a Special reward will be given to whole team for their speedy investigation in getting the accused convicted in the case he added.